YA Sorting Hat: Hufflepuff Edition

You’ve taken the tests, you’ve put thought into it, you know what your Hogwarts house is.

But what about your favorite YA characters?

Even if they don’t have magic, we can’t resist thinking about how our YA favorites would be sorted at Hogwarts. So let’s break it down house by house, starting with Hufflepuff! Hufflepuffs are loyal, hard-working, patient, and fair, so you’re not as likely to find them in books about pirates and criminals. Though a Hufflepuff could certainly find cause to join up with a pirate crew (please someone tell me if there’s a book about a Hufflepuff pirate crew!).

Here are our top YA literary Hufflepuffs, but if we missed your fave please let us know in the comments!

This was an easy one, since not only has the author said in interviews that Kullen is a Hufflepuff, but Kullen is also a classic Huffle. He would (and frequently does) risk everything for his friends, and he puts his whole heart into everything he does, even when he maybe shouldn’t. In his friendship with Merik, he is constantly the voice of patience and wisdom, a perfect counterpoint to Merik’s “LET’S GO!” Gryffindor attitude.

Another author confirmed pick. We suspected Moss would sport yellow and black if he had been born a wizard, and when we asked author Mark Oshiro for confirmation he responded, “HUFFLEPUFF FOREVER.” Moss goes to huge lengths to protect his friends and his community, so it’s no real surprise. He’s also a good reminder that Hufflepuffs can be just as strong as the other houses, they’re just more likely to stand up for community change than to run off chasing a troll into a girls’ bathroom.

Even though Cam is a witch, she spends her days at a typical high school, with no Whomping Willow or squid-infested lake to speak of. Still, we think that if Cam could have gone to Hogwarts instead of being raised by her Wicked Witch aunt, the sorting hat would have screamed “Hufflepuff!” the instant it was put on her head. She may have been born with magical powers, but all she wants is a happy, simple life, where she doesn’t have to put curses on anyone.

Scarlett from Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Poor Scarlett! We wish she could have spent her formative years at Hogwarts instead of in her abusive father’s house. Despite being raised surrounded by intense cruelty, she came out of it with an incredible loyalty to her sister and a desire to do good. She even turns down her biggest wish, to see Caraval, in order to help her family. Of course she gets to Caraval anyway, and once she enters that world of rules that turn dangerous when ignored, her dedication to fair play becomes a life-saver.

Rishi Patel from When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

This book is the perfect rom-com for any meet-cute-loving Hufflepuffs. Rishi loves his family and their traditions, even if they seem strange to other people. He’s a hopeless romantic, and when his parents tell him he has to woo his future wife at a summer web development conference, he thinks it’s a great idea. The plan obviously doesn’t go the way he thinks it will (he most definitely did not think she would throw iced coffee on him as soon as they met) but we won’t spoil the rest of their story. He’s sweet, he’s a dreamer, he’s a Hufflepuff.

Controversial Pick:

Vivi from The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

HEAR ME OUT. Okay, she’s not a traditional Hufflepuff, and it would probably take the sorting hat some time to figure her out, but I am convinced that Vivi is a Hufflepuff. First off, she literally cannot lie, which makes her super honest by default. Sure, she still deceives people, that’s just how was raised. Compared to everyone else in these books, she is by far the most honest. Plus, whenever she deceives people, she thinks it’s for their own good. She is also crazy loyal to her family – she would do anything for her sisters and for her brother. She’s one of (maybe even the only?) person is all of Faerie that Jude can trust. So there. Vivi’s a Hufflepuff. Fight me.